How do I pray on a plane and how do I calculate in-flight prayer time?
Question
How do I go about praying on a plane? I will be taking a flight overseas (Canada to Pakistan) and I want to know how to pray my salat. There will be a few stop-overs, but the flight will be 16 hours in total. Jazakallah khair.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
You will need to offer each salah in its proper time while traveling. Use the following website to calculate in-flight prayer times: Halaltrip
You will pray your obligatory [fardh] salah in a standing position and facing the qiblah.
The flight crew can assist you if you request them politely and they are usually quite accommodating. Cooperate with them so that they can facilitate your request.
If, however, a situation arises where you are not permitted to pray on the plane or the plane is too small such that there is no room to pray in a standing position – then you will have to perform your salah in your seat and will also have to repeat it later on. [i][ii]
If there will be a few stop-overs and if the passengers are not required to be on board the plane, then you can perform the salah of that time in the transition lounge of the airport.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
References (Arabic / Urdu sources)
أحسن الفتاوى، ٤/ ٨٨ - ٩٠ [i]
كتاب النوازل ٥/ ٤٧٠ - ٤٧١ [ii]
- Answered by
- Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Where scholars differ, it’s safer to take the more cautious view.
Fatawa SA is an independent, read-only index of fatawa already published by Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah. It is not a fatwa service. For your own situation, please ask a Mufti. Report an issue
For corrections or mistakes, please email us at fatawasa786@gmail.com.
Source: Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah — https://askimam.org/public/question_detail/2026
Fatawa SA: https://fatawa.co.za/fatwa/askimam-2026
People also ask
How do I pray on a plane, ship or train?
“Performing fard salaah on the plane seat is not valid for the person who has the ability to stand and perform salaah. Hence, the salaah performed on the plane seat was not valid and one's fard did not take place.”
Mufti Online · 59 fatawa from 4 Darul Iftas on this
What the Darul Iftas say